Systems and Methods for Routing Trade Orders Based on Exchange Latency

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods for routing trade orders based on exchange latency are disclosed. An example method includes measuring a first latency associated with a first exchange based on a processing time of a first trade order; and routing a second trade order from a trading device to one of the first and a second exchange based on the first latency.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.16/203,083, filed on Nov. 28, 2018, which is a continuation of U.S.patent application Ser. No. 15/006,836, filed on Jan. 26, 2016, now U.S.Pat. No. 10,169,818, which is a continuation of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 13/722,649, filed on Dec. 20, 2012, now U.S. Pat. No.9,280,791, the entire contents of each of which are incorporated hereinby reference for all purposes.

BACKGROUND

An electronic trading system generally includes a trading device incommunication with an electronic exchange. The electronic exchange sendsinformation about a market, such as prices and quantities, to thetrading device. The trading device sends messages, such as messagesrelated to orders, to the electronic exchange. The electronic exchangeattempts to match quantity of an order with quantity of one or morecontra-side orders.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

Certain embodiments are disclosed with reference to the followingdrawings.

FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram representative of an exampleelectronic trading system in which certain embodiments may be employed.

FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram of another example electronic tradingsystem in which certain embodiments may be employed.

FIG. 3 illustrates a block diagram of an example computing device whichmay be used to implement the disclosed embodiments.

FIGS. 4-8 are flowcharts representative of example machine readableinstructions that may be executed to implement disclosed embodiments.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram representative of an example confirmationperiod module that can implement the example machine readableinstructions of FIGS. 4-8.

Certain embodiments will be better understood when read in conjunctionwith the provided figures, which illustrate examples. It should beunderstood, however, that the embodiments are not limited to thearrangements and instrumentality shown in the attached figures.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The disclosed embodiments relate to trading systems and methods forrouting trade orders based on exchange latency. In particular, thedisclosed embodiments relate to systems and methods for routing tradeorders for fungible tradeable objects between one or more exchangeshaving markets for the fungible tradeable objects based on a dynamiccalculation of the time differential between the transmission of thetrade order and receipt of a fill confirmation in response to that tradeorder.

Exchanges facilitate transactions between trading devices that buyand/or sell one or more tradeable objects. An order submitted to theexchange is, for example, a buy order or a sell order. The exchangeattempts to match received orders with contra-side orders available in acorresponding market. For example, to fulfill a received buy order for atradeable object, the exchange analyzes availability of the firsttradeable object on a market. Similarly, to fulfill a received sellorder for the tradeable object, the exchange analyzes demand for thetradeable object on the market. The exchange then processes the order inaccordance with the current conditions of the market. To process thetrade orders, the exchange executes and/or facilitates a plurality ofcalculations, transactions, and communications, each of which consumesan amount of time. The amount of time taken by the exchange to fulfillan order is referred to herein as latency. As described in detail below,the latency of an exchange may be measured in a plurality of differentmanners and/or using a plurality of different benchmarks, triggers,factors, etc.

In many instances, terms of the transactions facilitated by the exchangeare time-sensitive. Accordingly, low latency from the exchange isdesirable. The matching engines and/or other components utilized by theexchange to process orders may become bogged down due to, for example,server related issues, network connectivity issues, swells in tradingactivity, computationally expensive tasks such as implied pricingcalculations, etc. In other words, one or more factors may cause anincrease in time taken to process an order at an exchange. In manyinstances, the outcomes of a trade are significantly affected by smallamounts of time. Thus, users and/or trading devices acting on behalf ofusers are highly interested in having trades processed by exchanges asquickly as possible.

Embodiments disclosed herein recognize that high latency at an exchangemay be considered unacceptable for some or all types of orders.Embodiments disclosed herein also recognize that tradeable objects areoften fungible across different exchanges and that trading devicesand/or users of the trading devices can utilize any of a plurality ofexchanges for such orders involving such tradeable objects. To improvethe speed at which trading devices are able to have orders processed,embodiments disclosed herein enable monitoring of latency metrics for aplurality of exchanges and routing of one or more trade orders toselected ones of the exchanges based on the monitored latency metrics.For example, some embodiments disclosed herein detect individuallatencies for a group of exchanges and select the exchange of the grouphaving the lowest latency for routing of orders. In some embodimentsdisclosed herein, the exchanges of the monitored group are groupedaccording to one or more factors. For example, in some embodimentsdisclosed herein, the exchanges of the monitored group are associatedwith a particular type of order and the selection of the exchange havingthe lowest latency is for orders of the particular type.

In some embodiments disclosed herein, a primary exchange for one or moretrading devices is monitored for latency and/or changes in latency by aprimary latency monitor. Further, in some embodiments disclosed herein,the latency of the primary exchange is compared to one or morethresholds to determine whether the latency of the primary exchange hasreached an undesirable level. Some embodiments disclosed herein directorders to one or more secondary exchanges instead of the primaryexchange when one of the thresholds has been exceeded. Additionally oralternatively, in some embodiments disclosed herein, the latencythreshold(s) associated with the primary exchange being exceeded causesactivation of one or more secondary latency monitors to measurelatencies of the secondary exchanges. In some embodiments disclosedherein, the one of the secondary exchanges having the lowest latency isselected for the rerouting of orders away from the primary exchange.Further, in some embodiments disclosed herein, trades are routed to theprimary exchange when the latency of the primary exchange has recoveredto a level below the latency threshold and/or a recovery threshold.

Although this description discloses embodiments including, among othercomponents, software executed on hardware, it should be noted that theembodiments are merely illustrative and should not be considered aslimiting. For example, it is contemplated that any or all of thesehardware and software components may be embodied exclusively inhardware, exclusively in software, exclusively in firmware, or in anycombination of hardware, software, and/or firmware. Accordingly, certainembodiments may be implemented in other ways.

I. Brief Description of Certain Embodiments

Certain embodiments provide an example method including measuring afirst latency associated with a first exchange based on a firstprocessing time of a first trade order. The example method includesrouting a second trade order from a trading device to one of the firstexchange and a second exchange based on the first latency.

Certain embodiments provide a tangible machine readable storage mediumcomprising example instructions that, when executed, cause a machine tomeasure a first latency associated with a first exchange based on afirst processing time of a first trade order. The example instructionscause the machine to route a second trade order from a trading device toone of the first exchange and a second exchange based on the firstlatency.

Certain embodiments provide an example apparatus including a computingdevice to measure a first latency associated with a first exchange basedon a first processing time of a first trade order. The computing deviceof the example apparatus is to route a second trade order from a tradingdevice to one of the first exchange and a second exchange based on thefirst latency.

II. Example Electronic Trading System

FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram representative of an exampleelectronic trading system 100 in which certain embodiments may beemployed. The system 100 includes a trading device 110, a gateway 120,and an exchange 130. The trading device 110 is in communication with thegateway 120. The gateway 120 is in communication with the exchange 130.As used herein, the phrase “in communication” encompasses directcommunication and/or indirect communication through one or moreintermediary components. The exemplary electronic trading system 100depicted in FIG. 1 may be in communication with additional components,subsystems, and elements to provide additional functionality andcapabilities without departing from the teaching and disclosure providedherein.

In operation, the trading device 110 may receive market data from theexchange 130 through the gateway 120. A user may utilize the tradingdevice 110 to monitor this market data and/or base a decision to send anorder message to buy or sell one or more tradeable objects to theexchange 130.

Market data may include data about a market for a tradeable object. Forexample, market data may include the inside market, market depth, lasttraded price (“LTP”), a last traded quantity (“LTQ”), or a combinationthereof. The inside market is the lowest available ask price (bestoffer) and the highest available bid price (best bid) in the market fora particular tradable object at a particular point in time (since theinside market may vary over time). Market depth refers to quantitiesavailable at the inside market and at other prices away from the insidemarket. Due to the quantity available, there may be “gaps” in marketdepth.

A tradeable object is anything which may be traded. For example, acertain quantity of the tradeable object may be bought or sold for aparticular price. A tradeable object may include, for example, financialproducts, stocks, options, bonds, future contracts, currency, warrants,funds derivatives, securities, commodities, swaps, interest rateproducts, index-based products, traded events, goods, or a combinationthereof. A tradeable object may include a product listed and/oradministered by an exchange (for example, the exchange 130), a productdefined by the user, a combination of real or synthetic products, or acombination thereof. There may be a synthetic tradeable object thatcorresponds and/or is similar to a real tradeable object.

An order message is a message that includes a trade order. A trade ordermay be, for example, a command to place an order to buy or sell atradeable object, a command to initiate managing orders according to adefined trading strategy, a command to change or cancel a previouslysubmitted order (for example, modify a working order), an instruction toan electronic exchange relating to an order, or a combination thereof.

The trading device 110 may include one or more electronic computingplatforms. For example, the trading device 110 may include a desktopcomputer, hand-held device, laptop, server, a portable computing device,a trading terminal, an embedded trading system, a workstation, analgorithmic trading system such as a “black box” or “grey box” system,cluster of computers, or a combination thereof. As another example, thetrading device 110 may include a single or multi-core processor incommunication with a memory or other storage medium configured toaccessibly store one or more computer programs, applications, libraries,computer readable instructions, and the like, for execution by theprocessor.

As used herein, the phrases “configured to” and “adapted to” encompassthat an element, structure, or device has been modified, arranged,changed, or varied to perform a specific function or for a specificpurpose.

By way of example, the trading device 110 may be implemented as apersonal computer running a copy of X TRADER®, an electronic tradingplatform provided by Trading Technologies International, Inc. ofChicago, Ill. (“Trading Technologies”). As another example, the tradingdevice 110 may be a server running a trading application providingautomated trading tools such as ADL™, AUTOSPREADER®, and/or AUTOTRADER™,also provided by Trading Technologies. In yet another example, thetrading device 110 may include a trading terminal in communication witha server, where collectively the trading terminal and the server are thetrading device 110.

The trading device 110 is generally owned, operated, controlled,programmed, configured, or otherwise used by a user. As used herein, thephrase “user” may include, but is not limited to, a human (for example,a trader), trading group (for example, group of traders), or anelectronic trading device (for example, an algorithmic trading system).One or more users may be involved in the ownership, operation, control,programming, configuration, or other use, for example.

The trading device 110 may include one or more trading applications. Asused herein, a trading application is an application that facilitates orimproves electronic trading. A trading application provides one or moreelectronic trading tools. For example, a trading application stored by atrading device may be executed to arrange and display market data in oneor more trading windows. In another example, a trading application mayinclude an automated spread trading application providing spread tradingtools. In yet another example, a trading application may include analgorithmic trading application that automatically processes analgorithm and performs certain actions, such as placing an order,modifying an existing order, deleting an order. In yet another example,a trading application may provide one or more trading screens. A tradingscreen may provide one or more trading tools that allow interaction withone or more markets. For example, a trading tool may allow a user toobtain and view market data, set order entry parameters, submit ordermessages to an exchange, deploy trading algorithms, and/or monitorpositions while implementing various trading strategies. The electronictrading tools provided by the trading application may always beavailable or may be available only in certain configurations oroperating modes of the trading application.

A trading application may include computer readable instructions thatare stored in a computer readable medium and executable by a processor.A computer readable medium may include various types of volatile andnon-volatile storage media, including, for example, random accessmemory, read-only memory, programmable read-only memory, electricallyprogrammable read-only memory, electrically erasable read-only memory,flash memory, any combination thereof, or any other tangible datastorage device. As used herein, the term non-transitory or tangiblecomputer readable medium is expressly defined to include any type ofcomputer readable storage media and to exclude propagating signals.

One or more components or modules of a trading application may be loadedinto the computer readable medium of the trading device 110 from anothercomputer readable medium. For example, the trading application (orupdates to the trading application) may be stored by a manufacturer,developer, or publisher on one or more CDs or DVDs, which are thenloaded onto the trading device 110 or to a server from which the tradingdevice 110 retrieves the trading application. As another example, thetrading device 110 may receive the trading application (or updates tothe trading application) from a server, for example, via the Internet oran internal network. The trading device 110 may receive the tradingapplication or updates when requested by the trading device 110 (forexample, “pull distribution”) and/or un-requested by the trading device110 (for example, “push distribution”).

The trading device 110 may be adapted to send order messages. Forexample, the order messages may be sent to through the gateway 120 tothe exchange 130. As another example, the trading device 110 may beadapted to send order messages to a simulated exchange in a simulationenvironment which does not effectuate real-world trades.

The order messages may be sent at the request of a user. For example, atrader may utilize the trading device 110 to send an order message ormanually input one or more parameters for a trade order (for example, anorder price and/or quantity). As another example, an automated tradingtool provided by a trading application may calculate one or moreparameters for a trade order and automatically send the order message.In some instances, an automated trading tool may prepare the ordermessage to be sent but not actually send it without confirmation from auser.

An order message may be sent in one or more data packets or through ashared memory system. For example, an order message may be sent from thetrading device 110 to the exchange 130 through the gateway 120. Thetrading device 110 may communicate with the gateway 120 using a localarea network, a wide area network, a wireless network, a virtual privatenetwork, a T1 line, a T3 line, an integrated services digital network(“ISDN”) line, a point-of-presence, the Internet, and/or a shared memorysystem, for example.

The gateway 120 may include one or more electronic computing platforms.For example, the gateway 120 may implemented as one or more desktopcomputer, hand-held device, laptop, server, a portable computing device,a trading terminal, an embedded trading system, workstation with asingle or multi-core processor, an algorithmic trading system such as a“black box” or “grey box” system, cluster of computers, or anycombination thereof.

The gateway 120 may facilitate communication. For example, the gateway120 may perform protocol translation for data communicated between thetrading device 110 and the exchange 130. The gateway 120 may process anorder message received from the trading device 110 into a data formatunderstood by the exchange 130, for example. Similarly, the gateway 120may transform market data in an exchange-specific format received fromthe exchange 130 into a format understood by the trading device 110, forexample.

The gateway 120 may include a trading application, similar to thetrading applications discussed above, that facilitates or improveselectronic trading. For example, the gateway 120 may include a tradingapplication that tracks orders from the trading device 110 and updatesthe status of the order based on fill confirmations received from theexchange 130. As another example, the gateway 120 may include a tradingapplication that coalesces market data from the exchange 130 andprovides it to the trading device 110. In yet another example, thegateway 120 may include a trading application that provides riskprocessing, calculates implieds, handles order processing, handlesmarket data processing, or a combination thereof.

In certain embodiments, the gateway 120 communicates with the exchange130 using a local area network, a wide area network, a virtual privatenetwork, a T1 line, a T3 line, an ISDN line, a point-of-presence, theInternet, and/or a shared memory system, for example.

The exchange 130 may be owned, operated, controlled, or used by anexchange entity. Example exchange entities include the CME Group, theLondon International Financial Futures and Options Exchange, theIntercontinental Exchange, and Eurex. The exchange 130 may include anelectronic matching system, such as a computer, server, or othercomputing device, which is adapted to allow tradeable objects, forexample, offered for trading by the exchange, to be bought and sold. Theexchange 130 may include separate entities, some of which list and/oradminister tradeable objects and others which receive and match orders,for example. The exchange 130 may include an electronic communicationnetwork (“ECN”), for example.

The exchange 130 may be an electronic exchange. The exchange 130 isadapted to receive order messages and match contra-side trade orders tobuy and sell tradeable objects. Unmatched trade orders may be listed fortrading by the exchange 130. The trade orders may include trade ordersreceived from the trading device 110 or other devices in communicationwith the exchange 130, for example. For example, typically the exchange130 will be in communication with a variety of other trading devices(which may be similar to trading device 110) which also provide tradeorders to be matched.

The exchange 130 is adapted to provide market data. Market data may beprovided in one or more messages or data packets or through a sharedmemory system. For example, the exchange 130 may publish a data feed tosubscribing devices, such as the trading device 110 or gateway 120. Thedata feed may include market data.

The system 100 may include additional, different, or fewer components.For example, the system 100 may include multiple trading devices,gateways, and/or exchanges. In another example, the system 100 mayinclude other communication devices, such as middleware, firewalls,hubs, switches, routers, servers, exchange-specific communicationequipment, modems, security managers, and/or encryption/decryptiondevices.

III. Expanded Example Electronic Trading System

FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram of another example electronic tradingsystem 200 in which certain embodiments may be employed. In thisexample, a trading device 210 a is in communication with an exchange 230a through a gateway 220 a. The following discussion mainly focuses onthe trading device 210 a, gateway 220 a, and the exchange 230 a.However, the trading device 210 a may also be connected to andcommunicate with any number of gateways 220 n connected to exchanges 230n. The communication between the trading device 110 a and otherexchanges 230 n may be the same, similar, or different than thecommunication between the trading device 210 a and exchange 230 a.Generally, each exchange has its own preferred techniques and/or formatsfor communicating with a trading device, a gateway, the user, or anotherexchange.

The trading device 210 a, which may be similar to the trading device 110in FIG. 1, may include a server 212 a in communication with a tradingterminal 214 a. The server 212 a may be located geographically closer tothe gateway 120 than the trading terminal 214 a. As a result, the server212 a latency benefits that are not afforded to the trading terminal 214a. In operation, the trading terminal 214 a may provide a trading screento a user and communicate commands to the server 212 a for furtherprocessing. For example, a trading algorithm may be deployed to theserver 212 a for execution based on market data. The server 212 a mayexecute the trading algorithm without further input from the user. Inanother example, the server 212 a may include a trading applicationproviding automated trading tools and communicate back to the tradingterminal 214 a. The trading device 210 a may include, additional,different, or fewer components.

The trading device 210 a may communicate with the gateway 220 a usingone or more communication networks. As used herein, a communicationnetwork is any network, including the Internet, which facilitates orenables communication between, for example, the trading device 210 a,the gateway 220 a and the exchange 220 a. For example, as shown in FIG.2, the trading device 210 a may communicate with the gateway 220 aacross a multicast communication network 202 a. The data on the network202 a may be logically separated by subject (for example, prices,orders, or fills). As a result, the server 212 a and trading terminal214 a can subscribe to and receive data (for example, data relating toprices, orders, or fills) depending on their individual needs.

The gateway 220 a, which may be similar to the gateway 120 of FIG. 1,may include a price server 222 a, order server 224 a, and fill server226 a. The gateway 220 a may include additional, different, or fewercomponents. The price server 222 a may process price data. Price dataincludes data related to a market for one or more tradeable objects. Theorder server 224 a may process order data. Order data is data related toa user's trade orders. For example, order data may include ordermessages, confirmation messages, or other types of messages. The fillserver collects and provides fill data. Fill data includes data relatingto one or more fills of trade orders. For example, the fill server 226 amay provide a record of trade orders, which have been routed through theorder server 224 a, that have and have not been filled. The servers 222a, 224 a, 226 a may run on the same machine or separate machines.

The gateway 220 a may communicate with the exchange 230 a using one ormore communication networks. For example, as shown in FIG. 2, there maybe two communication networks connecting the gateway 220 a and theexchange 230 a. The network 204 a may be used to communicate market datato the price server 222 a. In some instances, the exchange 230 a mayinclude this data in a data feed that is published to subscribingdevices. The network 206 a may be used to communicate order data.

The exchange 230 a, which may be similar to the exchange 130 of FIG. 1,may include an order book 232 a and a matching engine 234 a. Theexchange 230 a may include additional, different, or fewer components.The order book 232 a is a database that includes data relating tounmatched quantity of trade orders. For example, an order book mayinclude data relating to a market for a tradeable object, such as theinside market, market depth at various price levels, the last tradedprice, and the last traded quantity. The matching engine 234 a may matchcontra-side bids and offers. For example, the matching engine 234 a mayexecute one or more matching algorithms that match contra-side bids andoffers. A sell order is contra-side to a buy order with the same price.Similarly, a buy order is contra-side to a sell order with the sameprice.

In operation, the exchange 230 a may provide price data from the orderbook 232 a to the price server 222 a and order data and/or fill datafrom the matching engine 234 a to the order server 224 a. Servers 222 a,224 a, 226 a may translate and communicate this data back to the tradingdevice 210 a. The trading device 210 a, for example, using a tradingapplication, may process this data. For example, the data may bedisplayed to a user. In another example, the data may be utilized in atrading algorithm to determine whether a trade order should be submittedto the exchange 230 a. The trading device 210 a may prepare and send anorder message to the exchange 230 a.

In certain embodiments, the gateway 220 a is part of the trading device210 a. For example, the components of the gateway 220 a may be part ofthe same computing platform as the trading device 210 a. As anotherexample, the functionality of the gateway 220 a may be performed bycomponents of the trading device 210 a. In certain embodiments, thegateway 220 a is not present. Such an arrangement may occur when thetrading device 210 a does not need to utilize the gateway 220 a tocommunicate with the exchange 230 a, for example. For example, if thetrading device 210 a has been adapted to communicate directly with theexchange 230 a.

Additional trading devices 210 b-210 e, which are similar to tradingdevice 210 a, may be connected to one or more of the gateways 220 a-220n and exchanges 230 a-230 n. Furthermore, additional gateways, similarto the gateway 220 a, may be in communication with multiple exchanges,similar to the exchange 230 a. Each gateway may be in communication withone or more different exchanges, for example. Such an arrangement may,for example, allow one or more trading devices 210 a to trade at morethan one exchange (and/or provide redundant connections to multipleexchanges).

IV. Example Computing Device

FIG. 3 illustrates a block diagram of an example computing device 300which may be used to implement the disclosed embodiments. The tradingdevice 110 of FIG. 1 may include one or more computing devices 300, forexample. The gateway 120 of FIG. 1 may include one or more computingdevices 300, for example. The exchange 130 of FIG. 1 may include one ormore computing devices 300, for example.

The computing device 300 includes a communication network 310, aprocessor 312, a memory 314, an interface 316, an input device 318, andan output device 320. The computing device 300 may include additional,different, or fewer components. For example, multiple communicationnetworks, multiple processors, multiple memory, multiple interfaces,multiple input devices, multiple output devices, or any combinationthereof, may be provided. As another example, the computing device 300may not include an input device 318 or output device 320.

As shown in FIG. 3, the computing device 300 may include a processor 312coupled to a communication network 310. The communication network 310may include a communication bus, channel, electrical or optical network,circuit, switch, fabric, or other mechanism for communicating databetween components in the computing device 300. The communicationnetwork 310 may be communicatively coupled with and transfer databetween any of the components of the computing device 300.

The processor 312 may be any suitable processor, processing unit, ormicroprocessor. The processor 312 may include one or more generalprocessors, digital signal processors, application specific integratedcircuits, field programmable gate arrays, analog circuits, digitalcircuits, programmed processors, and/or combinations thereof, forexample. The processor 312 may be a single device or a combination ofdevices, such as one or more devices associated with a network ordistributed processing. Any processing strategy may be used, such asmulti-processing, multi-tasking, parallel processing, and/or remoteprocessing. Processing may be local or remote and may be moved from oneprocessor to another processor. In certain embodiments, the computingdevice 300 is a multi-processor system and, thus, may include one ormore additional processors which are communicatively coupled to thecommunication network 310.

The processor 312 may be operable to execute logic and other computerreadable instructions encoded in one or more tangible media, such as thememory 314. As used herein, logic encoded in one or more tangible mediaincludes instructions which may be executable by the processor 312 or adifferent processor. The logic may be stored as part of software,hardware, integrated circuits, firmware, and/or micro-code, for example.The logic may be received from an external communication device via acommunication network such as the network 340. The processor 312 mayexecute the logic to perform the functions, acts, or tasks illustratedin the figures or described herein.

The memory 314 may be one or more tangible media, such as computerreadable storage media, for example. Computer readable storage media mayinclude various types of volatile and non-volatile storage media,including, for example, random access memory, read-only memory,programmable read-only memory, electrically programmable read-onlymemory, electrically erasable read-only memory, flash memory, anycombination thereof, or any other tangible data storage device. As usedherein, the term non-transitory or tangible computer readable medium isexpressly defined to include any type of computer readable medium and toexclude propagating signals. The memory 314 may include any desired typeof mass storage device including hard disk drives, optical media,magnetic tape or disk, etc.

The memory 314 may include one or more memory devices. For example, thememory 314 may include local memory, a mass storage device, volatilememory, non-volatile memory, or a combination thereof. The memory 314may be adjacent to, part of, programmed with, networked with, and/orremote from processor 312, so the data stored in the memory 314 may beretrieved and processed by the processor 312, for example. The memory314 may store instructions which are executable by the processor 312.The instructions may be executed to perform one or more of the acts orfunctions described herein or shown in the figures.

The memory 314 may store a trading application 330. In certainembodiments, the trading application 330 may be accessed from or storedin different locations. The processor 312 may access the tradingapplication 330 stored in the memory 314 and execute computer-readableinstructions included in the trading application 330.

In certain embodiments, during an installation process, the tradingapplication may be transferred from the input device 318 and/or thenetwork 340 to the memory 314. When the computing device 300 is runningor preparing to run the trading application 330, the processor 312 mayretrieve the instructions from the memory 314 via the communicationnetwork 310.

[The following section is for inclusion in cases that deal with strategytrading and should be removed (along with the corresponding FIG. 4) ifnot applicable.]

V. Exchange Latency Monitoring

FIGS. 4-8 are flowcharts representative of example operations that canbe executed to implement teachings of this disclosure. At least some ofthe example operations of FIGS. 4-8 can be implemented by, for example,the trading application 330 stored on and executed by the exampletrading device 110 of FIG. 1 and/or the example trading device 210 ofFIG. 2. Additionally or alternatively, at least some of the exampleoperations of FIGS. 4-8 can be implemented by, for example, one or moreapplications stored on and executed by the example exchanges 230 a, 230n of FIG. 2 and/or the example gateways 220 a, 220 n of FIG. 2. Whilethe example trading device 110 of FIG. 1 is described as implementingthe example operations of FIGS. 4-8 below, any suitable device canimplement the example operations of FIGS. 4-8.

The example operations of FIGS. 4-8 enable routing of trade orders todifferent exchanges based on latency information associated with theexchanges. Put another way, the example operations of FIGS. 4-8 enablesselection of an exchange for a trade order based on indications that theselected exchange is likely to process the trade order faster than otherexchange(s). To provide trading devices and/or users of the tradingdevices with the disclosed capability, the example operations of FIGS.4-8 measure one or more aspects of trade order processing at thedifferent exchanges. In particular, the example operations of FIGS. 4-8analyze timestamp data associated with trade orders processed by thedifferent exchanges to measure amounts of time taken by the exchanges toprocess trade orders. Depending on a plurality of factors and/orcircumstances, some exchanges may experience periods of increasedlatency and/or may underperform in terms of processing speed whencompared to other exchanges. The example operations of FIGS. 4-8 detectperiods of increased latency at specific exchanges and/or determinewhich of a plurality of exchanges has the lowest latency at a particulartime. The example operations of FIGS. 4-8 make one or more routingdecisions for trade order(s) associated with, for example, a particularuser and/or trade order(s) of a particular type based on the monitoredlatency information of the exchanges.

A plurality of different monitoring techniques and/or schemes can beused in connection with the teachings of this disclosure. Further, aplurality of different trade order routing strategies can be implementedin connection with the teachings of this disclosure. To illustrate firstexample monitoring and routing techniques and/or mechanisms constructedin accordance with the teachings of this disclosure, FIG. 4 includesexample operations that route trade orders of different types based on aselection of an exchange having a lowest latency for a period of timeacross different types of trade orders. In other words, the exampleoperations of FIG. 4 select an exchange as the destination for all typesof trade orders based on processing performance measurements associatedwith all types of trade orders at the exchanges. To illustrate secondexample monitoring and routing techniques and/or mechanisms constructedin accordance with the teachings of this disclosure, FIG. 6 includesexample operations that route trade orders of a particular type based ona selection of an exchange having a lowest latency for the particulartype of trade order. In other words, the example operations of FIG. 6select an exchange as the destination for a particular type of tradeorder based on processing performance measurements associated with theparticular type of trade orders at the exchanges. To illustrate thirdexample monitoring and routing techniques and/or mechanisms constructedin accordance with the teachings of this disclosure, FIG. 7 illustratesexample monitoring operations that determine whether a latency thresholdis exceeded at a primary exchange and, if so, calculate latencies ofsecondary exchanges to select one of the secondary exchanges as adestination for trade orders. Additional or alternative monitoringand/or routing techniques and/or mechanisms to the examples of FIGS. 4-8can be implemented in connection with the teachings of this disclosure.

The example of FIG. 4 begins with an initiation of an exchange monitorby, for example, a user and/or application of the trading device 110 ofFIG. 1 and/or the trading device 210 a of FIG. 2 (block 400). As anoutcome of a trade order submitted to an exchange can depend on a speedat which the exchange processes the trade order, the user has a stronginterest in submitting trade orders to exchanges having low latencyprocessing characteristics. In the example of FIG. 4, the user and/ortrading device acting on behalf of the user is one having access to aplurality of exchanges. That is, the user and/or the trading device canselect an exchange from a set of exchanges as a destination for one ormore trade orders. For example, with reference to FIG. 2, the user ofthe trading device 210 a is capable of routing or directing trade ordersto any of the exchanges 230 a-230 n.

The example operations of FIG. 4 include calculating latency scores forrespective ones of the set of exchanges to which the correspondingtrading device has access (block 402). In some examples, a latency scoreis calculated for each of the exchanges to which the trading device hasaccess. Alternatively, a latency score may be calculated for each of asubset of the exchanges to which the trading device has access. Forexample, the trading device and/or the user of the trading device maydefine one or more subsets of exchanges according to, for example,type(s) of trade orders to be handled by the corresponding exchangesand/or client designations associated with the trade orders. Examplemanners of calculating the latency scores for the exchanges aredescribed below in connection with FIG. 5. As described below, latencyinformation associated with an exchange includes, for example, anaverage turnaround time for trade orders placed at the exchange over acertain period of time and/or a number of processed trade orders. Insome examples, the latency information associated with the exchangeincludes a rolling average of turnaround times for trade orders placedat the exchange. In some examples, the calculation of the latency scoresis performed according to a schedule shared across the differentexchanges. In such instances, latency information is collected andanalyzed at the same time for each of the exchanges. Additionally oralternatively, the calculation of the latency score at a first one ofthe exchanges may occur at a different time as the calculation of thelatency score at a second one of the exchanges. For example, thecalculation of the latency score at the first exchange may occur inresponse to a first schedule dedicated to the first exchange and thecalculation of the latency score at the second exchange may occur inresponse a second schedule dedicated to the second exchange.Additionally or alternatively, the calculation of the latency score forone or more of the exchanges may occur in response to the correspondingexchange processing a threshold number of trade orders. In other words,the calculation of the latency score for an exchange may occur when theexchange has processed one hundred (100) trade orders since the previouscalculation of latency scores. Other methods and/or techniques ofcalculating the latency scores are possible.

The example operations of FIG. 4 use the calculated latency scores toselect one of the exchanges as the destination for trade orders placed,for example, over a subsequent period of time and/or for a subsequentnumber of trade orders (block 404). For example, the selected exchangemay be the destination for the next fifty (50) trade orders placed bythe trading device. Additionally or alternatively, the selected exchangemay be the destination for trade orders placed by the trading device inthe next hour, the current day, or the next three (3) days. In theillustrated example of FIG. 4, the selection of the exchange includescomparing the latency scores of the monitored set of exchanges toidentify which one of the exchanges has the lowest latency. In otherwords, the example of FIG. 4 identifies which one of the monitoredexchanges is currently processing trade orders faster than the otherexchanges of the set. Thus, in the illustrated example of FIG. 4, theexchanges of the monitored set of exchanges compete, perhapsunknowingly, for the trade orders of the trading device and/or the userof the trading device.

The example operations of FIG. 4 include storing an indication of theexchange selection for the current period of time and/or number of tradeorders (block 406). In some examples, the exchange selections are storedand later analyzed to generate statistics and/or other metricsindicative of exchange performance. Such statistics and/or metrics areused to, for example, evaluate a business relationship and/or termsthereof with the individual exchanges. In some examples, the exchangeselection indications may be shared with, for example, a third partyinterested in evaluating the performance characteristics associated withthe exchanges. In some examples, the exchange selection indications areprovided to proprietors of the exchanges to enable the proprietors toidentify potential improvements, potential problems, and/or successes.

The example operations of FIG. 4 include routing trade orders to theexchange selected based on the latency information associated with theset of exchanges (block 408). In the illustrated example of FIG. 4, thetrade orders are routed to the selected exchange for a period of timeand/or a number of consecutive trade orders. For example, trade ordersmay be routed to the selected exchange for the next hour or until twenty(20) trade orders have been submitted to the selected exchange,whichever occurs first. In some examples, the period of time and/ornumber of trade orders that defines the routing to the selected exchangecorresponds to the rate at which the latency scores are calculated forthe exchanges. That is, the routing of the trade orders to a firstselected exchange may last until a subsequent selection of, for example,a second different exchange based on new latency information.

The example of FIG. 5 illustrates example monitoring operations tomonitor for an exchange such as, for example, the exchange 130 of FIG. 1and/or any of the exchanges 230 a-230 n of FIG. 2. The example of FIG. 5may implement, for example, block 402 of FIG. 4 described above, block602 of FIG. 6 described below, block 704 of FIG. 7 described below,and/or block 710 of FIG. 7 described below. The example of FIG. 5 beginswith an activation of an exchange monitor by, for example, a user and/orapplication of the trading device 110 of FIG. 1 and/or the tradingdevice 210 a of FIG. 2 (block 500). In some examples, one or more of theexample operations of FIG. 5 are stored and executed at the exchangebeing monitored. In such instances, an application stored on andexecuted by the trading device 110 of FIG. 1 and/or 210 a of FIG. 2 mayinitiate and/or communicate with the operations stored and executed atthe exchange being monitored. In some examples, one or more of theexample operations of FIG. 5 are stored and executed at a gatewayservicing the exchange being monitored. In such instances, anapplication stored on and executed by the trading device 110 of FIG. 1and/or 210 a of FIG. 2 may initiate and/or communicate with theoperations stored and executed at the gateway corresponding to theexchange being monitored.

The example operations of FIG. 5 include detecting placement of a tradeorder at the monitored exchange (block 502). For example, a type ofmessage dedicated to new trade orders and/or an indication in acommunication message indicative of a new order may be detected asreceived at the monitored exchange. In the example of FIG. 5, a type ofthe received trade order is detected (block 504). Put another way, thereceived trade order is categorized according to one or morecharacteristics of the trade order. Example characteristics of a tradeorder that are used to categorize the trade order include a type of goodassociated with the trade order, whether the trade order is a buy orderor a sell order, whether the trade order is part of a trading strategysuch as a spread trade, whether the trade order is a market order,whether the trade order is a limit order, a market to which the tradeorder is directed, a size of the trade order, whether the trade order isdirected to a domestic market, whether the trade order is directed to anoverseas market, whether the trade order is directed to an internationalmarket, and/or any other aspect or characteristic of the trade order.

To calculate a latency of the exchange associated with the receivedorder, the example operations of FIG. 5 include obtaining a timestampcorresponding to receipt of the trade order at the exchange (block 506).In the illustrated example of FIG. 5, the timestamp corresponding toreceipt of the trade order is referred to as an order-initiatedtimestamp and is indicative of a time at which the monitored exchangebegins processing the trade order. The example order-initiated timestampis obtained by, for example, referencing a system clock at a time whenthe received trade order is detected at, for example, an interface incommunication with a gateway. Additional or alternative data can beanalyzed and/or obtained to determine a time at which the exchangebegins processing the trade order.

The example operations of FIG. 5 include determining when the exchangehas processed the received trade order (block 508). For example, thetrade order is considered processed when a matching engine of theexchange has matched the terms of the received trade order with acontra-side trade order(s) available on a market, facilitated theexchange of the received trade order and the matched contra-side tradeorder(s), and delivered the resulting contracts to the trading devicefrom which the trade order was received. Additional considerationsand/or milestones in the processing of the trade order may mark thecompletion on which the latency calculation is based.

The example operations of FIG. 5 capture and/or generate a timestampcorresponding to the time at which the trade order is considered fullyprocessed by the exchange (block 510). In the illustrated example ofFIG. 5, the timestamp corresponding to the completion of the trade orderprocessing at the exchange is referred to as an order-processedtimestamp. The example order-processed timestamp is obtained and/orgenerated by, for example, referencing a system clock at a time when thereceived trade order is considered processed, such as when a messageindicating the fulfillment of the trade order is sent to the tradingdevice that conveyed the trade order to the exchange.

The example operations of FIG. 5 include comparing the order-initiatedtimestamp and the order-processed timestamp to calculate a turnaroundtime or latency for the individual trade order (block 512). Inparticular, a different between the order-initiated timestamp and theorder-processed timestamp represents the amount of time taken by theexchange to process the trade order. This calculated amount of time isreferred to herein as exchange latency or a turnaround time. Thecalculated turnaround time for the individual trade is stored in memoryand can be used as a basis of an exchange selection disclosed herein.

In the illustrated example of FIG. 5, individual latency measurementsassociated with the monitored exchange are aggregated or combined toform an overall or collective latency score for the monitored exchange(block 516). The amount of latency measurements that form the collectivelatency score for the exchange can vary according to, for example, usersettings and/or a volume of trade orders typically processed at theexchange. For example, a first collective latency score for a firstexchange handling a first average volume may include latencymeasurements associated with a previous five hundred (500) trade ordersand a second collective latency score for a second exchange handling asecond average volume may include latency measurements associated with aprevious five thousand (5,000) trade orders. Additionally oralternatively, the aggregation of the latency measurements can includecalculating a rolling average, calculating a mean, calculating astandard deviation, and/or any other suitable statistics and/or metric.

In the illustrated example of FIG. 5, individual latency measurementsassociated with trade orders having at least one characteristic incommon are aggregated to form a latency score for trade orders of asimilar type (block 516). For example, latency measurements associatedwith buy orders may be aggregated to form a first type-specific latencyscore for the exchange. Further, sell orders may be aggregated to form asecond type-specific latency score for the exchange. Further, tradeorders associated with a first good may be aggregated to form a thirdtype-specific latency score for the exchange. Further, trade ordersassociated with a second good may be aggregated to form a fourthtype-specific latency score for the exchange. Further, trade ordersexceeding a first size threshold may be aggregated to form a fifthtype-specific latency score for the exchange. Further, trade ordersexceeding a second size threshold may be aggregated to form a sixthtype-specific latency score for the exchange. Additional or alternativetypes and/or categorizations of the trade orders and the correspondinglatency scores are possible.

The example operations of FIG. 5 include storing the calculatedindividual latency scores, the collective latency score for theexchange, and/or the type-specific latency scores for the exchange(block 518). As described in detail below, the stored latency scoresform the basis of one or more routing decisions for users and/or tradingdevices wanting to place trade orders with exchanges providing shortturnaround times.

FIG. 6 illustrates example operations similar to the example operationsof FIG. 4. As described below, in addition or in lieu of the exampleconsiderations of FIG. 4, the example operations of FIG. 6 considertype-specific latency information in the selection of an exchange as adestination for trade orders.

The example of FIG. 6 begins with an initiation of an exchange monitorby, for example, a user and/or application of the trading device 110 ofFIG. 1 and/or the trading device 210 a of FIG. 2 (block 600). Theexample operations of FIG. 6 include calculating type-specific latencyscores for each exchange of a group of exchanges designated by, forexample, the trading device as able to receive trade orders of aparticular type (block 602). For example, the operations of FIG. 5 maybe used to implement block 602 of FIG. 6. As described above, theexample operations of FIG. 5 result in one or more type-specific latencyscores being generated for the monitored exchange. In the example ofFIG. 6, latency scores for particular types of trade orders arecalculated for groups of exchanges assigned to the particular types oftrade orders. For example, a first group of exchanges may be assigned toa first type of trade order by, for example, a user and/or a tradingdevice acting on behalf of the user. Further, a second group ofexchanges may be assigned to a second type of order. The first andsecond groups may overlap.

For each of the type-specific groups, the example operations of FIG. 6select an exchange having the lowest latency as a destination for tradeorders of the corresponding type (block 604). The selection of theexchange as the destination of the trade orders is used, for example, toroute trade orders placed over a subsequent period of time and/or toroute a subsequent number of trade orders. For example, the selectedexchange may be the destination for the next fifty (50) trade orders ofthe corresponding type placed by the trading device. Additionally oralternatively, the selected exchange may be the destination for tradeorders of the corresponding type placed by the trading device in thenext hour, the current day, or the next three (3) days. Thus, theexample operations of FIG. 6 identifies which one of the exchanges of agroup of exchanges assigned to a particular type of trade order iscurrently processing trade orders faster than the other exchanges of thetype-specific group.

The example operations of FIG. 6 store an indication of the exchangeselection for the current period of time and/or number of trade orders(block 606). Further, the example operations of FIG. 6 include routingtrade orders to the exchange selected based on the latency informationassociated with the type-specific group of exchanges (block 608). In theillustrated example of FIG. 6, the trade orders are routed to theselected exchange for a period of time and/or a number of consecutivetrade orders of the corresponding type.

FIG. 7 illustrates example operations to monitor processing times of aprimary exchange and, in response to determining that one or moreprocessing times associated with the primary exchange have reached anundesirable length, rerouting trade orders to one or more secondary oralternate exchanges. The example of FIG. 7 begins with an initiation ofan exchange monitor by, for example a user and/or application of thetrading device 110 of FIG. 1 and/or the trading device 210 a of FIG. 2(block 700). The trading device and/or the user of the trading deviceutilizing the example operations of FIG. 7 is aware that exchangeservers, such as matching engines, may experience periods of highlatency and, thus, have the potential to adversely affect an outcome ofone or more trade orders. Accordingly, the initiating trading deviceutilizes the example operations of FIG. 7 to detect periods of highlatency at a primary exchange and to direct trade orders away from theprimary exchange. The trading device utilizing the example operations ofFIG. 7 may have a primary exchange for different types of trade orders,for different clients, for different times of day, and/or according toany other suitable characteristic or consideration. Further, the tradingdevice utilizing the example operations of FIG. 7 designates one or moresecondary or alternate exchanges for each of the primary exchangedesignations. As described below, the primary exchange is used as thedesignation for corresponding trade orders until a latency threshold isexceeded at the primary exchange. In response to the latency thresholdbeing exceeded, the secondary exchanges are at least considered forrouting of the trade orders in lieu of the primary exchange.

In the example of FIG. 7, the latency thresholds for the respectiveprimary exchanges are set to default values and/or user-specified values(block 702). The latency thresholds of FIG. 7 represent respectivelevels of latency at which the user desires to reroute trade orders. Insome examples, different latency thresholds are assigned to differenttypes of trade orders for the primary exchange. That is, a first one ofthe latency thresholds of FIG. 7 at a primary exchange may correspond toa first type of trade order and a second one of the latency thresholdsof FIG. 7 at the primary exchange may correspond to a second type oftrade order. Additionally or alternatively, a collective latencythreshold may be assigned to the primary exchange. As described above,the collective latency measurement of an exchange reflects theturnaround time of the exchange across different types of trade orders.The example thresholds of FIG. 7 can be configured and/or assigned inany suitable manner to any suitable type of latency measurement and/ormetric.

The example operations of FIG. 7 include calculating latency score(s)for the primary exchange (block 704). An example implementation of block704 of FIG. 7 is described above in connection with FIG. 5. As describedabove, the example operations of FIG. 5 result in one or more latencyscores being generated for a monitored exchange. The latency scoresgenerated via the example operations of FIG. 5 are statisticsrepresentative of, for example, recent processing time performance ofthe exchange. The example operations of FIG. 7 include comparing thecalculated latency score(s) to corresponding ones of the latencythresholds (block 706). In other words, the example operations of FIG. 7determine whether the primary exchange is not processing trade ordersfast enough. If none of the latency thresholds has been exceeded (block708), control returns to block 704 of FIG. 7.

If any of the latency thresholds have been exceeded (block 708), theexample operations of FIG. 7 calculate latency scores for thecorresponding secondary or alternative exchanges (block 710). An exampleimplementation of block 710 of FIG. 7 is described above in connectionwith FIG. 5. In the illustrated example of FIG. 7, the latencyinformation for the secondary exchanges is not monitored or generateduntil one of the latency thresholds is exceeded at the primary exchange.In some examples, the latency information for the second exchanges isgenerated and maintained simultaneously with the monitoring of theprimary exchange latency information. Based on the latency informationcalculated for the secondary exchanges at block 710, the exampleoperations of FIG. 7 redirect trade orders otherwise destined for theprimary exchange to one of the secondary exchanges in accordance with aredirection rule (block 712). An example implementation of block 712 isdescribed below in connection with FIG. 8.

While the trade orders are being redirected to the selected one of thesecondary exchanges, the example operations of FIG. 7 periodicallydetermine whether processing performance at the primary exchange hasrecovered beyond a recovery threshold (block 714). In some examples, therecovery threshold represents a lower latency than the latency thresholdthat was previously exceeded. In some examples, the recovery thresholdis the same or substantially similar to the latency threshold that waspreviously exceeded. If the processing performance of the primaryexchange has not sufficiently recovered (block 714), the exampleoperations of FIG. 7 continue to redirect trade orders to the selectedsecondary exchange (block 710). Otherwise, if the processing performanceof the primary exchange has sufficiently recovered (block 714), theexample operations of FIG. 7 pause the latency monitoring of thesecondary exchanges (block 716). In some examples, the latencymonitoring of the second exchanges may continue after the primaryexchange has sufficiently recovered. Further, if the processingperformance of the primary exchange has sufficiently recovered (block714), the example operations of FIG. 7 reverse the redirection of tradeorders to the secondary exchanges and restore the primary exchange asthe destination for the trade orders (block 718). Control then passed toblock 704 and the latency monitoring of the primary exchange isexecuted.

FIG. 8 illustrates example operations to reroute trade orders inresponse to processing performance of the primary exchange of FIG. 7being indicative of too great a latency according to, for example, acorresponding threshold set by the user. As described in detail below,the example operations of FIG. 8 utilize a set of redirection rules thatare configured by, for example, the user and/or a trading device actingon behalf of the user. The example redirection rules utilized by theexample operations of FIG. 8 reflect desires of the user as to which ofthe corresponding secondary exchanges should be selected as thealternate destination for trade orders.

The example of FIG. 8 begins with an indication that one of the latencythresholds associated with a primary exchange has been exceeded orotherwise violated (block 800). In the illustrated example of FIG. 8,the indication includes information associated with the detectedviolation of the latency threshold including an identifier of theprimary exchange, identifier(s) of the corresponding secondaryexchanges, and a designation of a particular type of trade ordercorresponding to the violated latency threshold. The example redirectionrules utilized by the example operations enable trading devices and/orusers of the trading devices to define a redirection rule using one ormore bases. For example, a user can define a dedicated redirection rulefor an exchange. Additionally or alternatively, a user can define aredirection rule for trade order of a particular type. Additionally oralternatively, a user can define a redirection rule for the particularlatency thresholds described above. In some examples, more than oneredirection rule applies to an occurrence of a latency threshold beingexceeded. In such instances, the redirection rules may include ahierarchy of which redirection rules have priority over other ones ofthe redirection rules.

The example operations of FIG. 8 use the received information associatedwith the violation of the latency threshold to query the set of theredirection rules (block 802). In particular, the example operations ofFIG. 8 determine whether the set of redirection rules includes aredirection rule for the exceeded latency threshold, the exchange atwhich the latency threshold was exceeded, and/or the type of trade orderassociated with the exceeded latency threshold (block 802). Theredirection rules may use any suitable basis or bases for determining aredirection of one or more trade orders to certain exchanges. In someexamples, the redirection rules are based on static factors. Forexample, a first one of the redirection rules redirects trade ordersfrom a first exchange to a second exchange when latency at the firstexchange exceeds a threshold during a first time of day and to a thirdexchange when latency at the first exchange exceeds the threshold duringa second time of day. Additionally or alternatively, the redirectionrules are based on dynamic factors. For example, a second one of theredirection rules redirects trade orders based on available volume atrespective alternate exchanges for the tradeable object(s) of the tradeorders. In some examples, the second redirection rule determines whethersufficient volume is available at a first alternate exchange and, if so,redirects the trade order to the first exchange. If sufficient volume isnot available at the first alternate exchange, the example secondredirection rule determines whether sufficient volume is available at asecond alternate exchange (for example, according to a hierarchy ofexchanges defined in the second redirection rule). In some examples, thesecond redirection rule compares available volumes at differentalternate exchanges and selects the exchange having, for example, thegreater available volume for redirection of the trade orders. Additionalor alternative bases are possible for the redirection rules. Further,the redirection rules are configurable by, for example, a correspondinguser and/or a trading device acting on behalf of the user.

In the illustrated example, if the set of redirection rules does notinclude a corresponding redirection rule (block 802), the exampleoperations of FIG. 8 select the secondary exchange having the lowestlatency according to the most recent processing performancemeasurements. As described above, the latency measurements of thesecondary exchanges are executed in response the latency threshold beingexceeded. If the set of redirection rules includes a corresponding rule(block 802), example operations of FIG. 8 select an alternatedestination for trade orders based on the appropriate redirection rule(block 806).

The example operations of FIG. 8 include setting one or more translationparameters such that the trade orders originally destined for theprimary exchange can be formatted for the selected secondary exchange(block 808). In particular, the selected secondary exchange may requiretrade orders to be formatted and/or to include particular informationdifferent from the primary exchange. Alternatively, the selectedsecondary exchange may deal in tradeable objects having different baselot sizes. A translation multiplier may be specified to normalizebetween differing order sizes. If the requirements of the selectedsecondary exchange are the same as the requirements of the primaryexchange, setting the translation parameters may involve, for example,setting one or more parameters to null or inapplicable. If therequirements of the selected secondary exchange are different than therequirements of the primary exchange, the example operations of FIG. 8set the translation according to the requirements of the selectedsecondary exchange. The example operations of FIG. 8 subject tradeorders to be rerouted or redirected to the selected secondary exchangeto one or more translation mechanisms or techniques in accordance withthe set translation parameters (block 810). Thus, the trade ordersdirected to the alternative exchange are formatted and/or otherwiseconditioned such that the trade orders can be received and processed bythe selected secondary exchange. The example of FIG. 8 then ends (block812).

FIG. 9 is a block diagram of an example exchange monitor module 900 thatmay implement and/or execute the example operations of FIGS. 4-8. Insome examples, the exchange monitor module 900 of FIG. 9 may beimplemented as a part of the trading application 330 associated with thetrading device 110 of FIG. 1, the trading device 210 a of FIG. 2, and/orthe gateway(s) 220 a-n of FIG. 2. In some examples, the exchange monitormodule 900 of FIG. 9 may be implemented as computer implemented code orinstructions operable independent of a trading application. In someexamples, the features and functionality of the exchange monitor module900 of FIG. 9 may be implemented in hardware operable in connection withthe trading device 110 of FIG. 1, the trading device 210 a of FIG. 2,and/or the gateway(s) 220 a-n of FIG. 2.

The example exchange monitor module 900 of FIG. 9 includes a monitormanagement module 902 to maintain information related one or moreinstances of the exchange latency monitors disclosed herein. Forexample, in connection with the example operations of FIG. 8, themonitor management module 902 stores and manages assignments andselections of different exchanges as primary exchanges and/orassignments and selections of secondary exchanges. The example monitormanagement module 902 enables users and/or trading devices to configurethe designations of associated with the exchanges. Additionally, inconnection with the example operations of FIGS. 4 and/or 6, the monitormanagement module 902 stores information related to, for example, thelatency measurements and/or the selections of the different exchanges ashaving the lowest latency.

The example exchange monitor module 900 of FIG. 9 includes a latencymonitor module 904 to measure processing performance of exchanges. Tofacilitate the processing performance measurements of one or moreexchanges, the example latency monitor module 904 includes an order typedetector module 906, a timestamp collection module 908, a latencycalculation module 910, and a score aggregation module 912. As describedabove, one or more aspects of the latency monitoring and/or rerouting oftrade orders may depend on a type of the corresponding trade orders.Accordingly, the example order type detector module 906 of FIG. 9determines a type of trade order in response to, for example, a latencythreshold being exceeded, a trade order being subject to routing to aselected alternate exchange, and/or a need to aggregate latency scoresfor a type-specific trade orders.

The example timestamp collection module 908 of FIG. 9 obtains theorder-initiated timestamps and/or the order-processed timestampsdescribed above. The order-initiated timestamp and the order-processedtimestamp correspond to a beginning and an end, respectively, of aprocessing turnaround time for a particular trade order. The examplelatency calculation module 910 of FIG. 9 calculates a difference betweenthe timestamps to determine the corresponding turnaround time for thetrade order, which is indicative of a latency of the trade order. Whilethe example latency calculation module 910 of FIG. 9 is described asusing timestamps to determine processing performance of exchanges,additional or alternative methods of measuring processing performanceare possible.

The individual latency measurements of the trade orders generated by thelatency calculation module 910 are aggregated by the score aggregationmodule 912 to generate one or more latency scores. The example scoreaggregation module 912 generates different types of latency scores fordifferent components such as, for example, trade orders of a particulartype, the collective trade orders of an exchange, and/or trade orders ofuser-defined categories. The example exchange monitor module 900 of FIG.9 stores the latency scores generate by the latency calculation module910 as latency scores 914.

The example exchange monitor module 900 of FIG. 9 includes a comparatormodule 916 to compare the latency scores 914 to each other and/or to oneor more latency thresholds 918. In some examples, ones of the latencyscores 914 corresponding to different exchanges are compared todetermine which of the exchanges is to be selected as a destination fortrade orders. In some examples, ones of the latency scores 914corresponding to an exchange are compared to the thresholds 918 todetermine whether a secondary exchange should be selected as analternate destination for trade orders.

The example exchange monitor module 900 of FIG. 9 includes an orderdirector module 920 to route or direct trade orders to differentexchanges based on, for example, results of the comparator module 916.For example, when the comparator module 916 identifies one of a group ofexchanges having a lowest latency or best processing performance as adestination for trade orders, the example order director module 920selects the identified exchange as the destination exchange and routesthe corresponding trade orders to the identified exchange. Additionallyor alternatively, when the comparator module 916 detects that a primaryexchange has exceeded a latency threshold, the example order directormodule 920 selects one of a corresponding group of secondary exchangesas the destination and routes the corresponding trade orders to theselected alternate exchange. In some examples, the order director module920 references a set of redirection rules 922 when identifying and/orselecting an exchange as a destination for trade orders. Further, theexample order director module 920 determines when the primary exchangehas recovered to a level of performance below the previously exceededlatency threshold and, in response, routes the corresponding tradeorders to the primary exchange.

The example exchange monitor module 900 of FIG. 9 includes a translationmodule 924 to place one or more trade orders originally intended for aprimary exchange in condition for submission and/or processing by asecondary, alternate exchange. The example translation module 924maintains one or more translation tables or indexes indicative of howdifferent requirements of different exchanges map to each other.Further, example translation module 924 includes a plurality oftranslation parameters to facilitate the translation of trade ordersfrom one format to another.

Some of the described figures depict example block diagrams, systems,and/or flow diagrams representative of methods that may be used toimplement all or part of certain embodiments. One or more of thecomponents, elements, blocks, and/or functionality of the example blockdiagrams, systems, and/or flow diagrams may be implemented alone or incombination in hardware, firmware, discrete logic, as a set of computerreadable instructions stored on a tangible computer readable medium,and/or any combinations thereof, for example.

The example block diagrams, systems, and/or flow diagrams may beimplemented using any combination of application specific integratedcircuit(s) (ASIC(s)), programmable logic device(s) (PLD(s)), fieldprogrammable logic device(s) (FPLD(s)), discrete logic, hardware, and/orfirmware, for example. Also, some or all of the example methods may beimplemented manually or in combination with the foregoing techniques,for example.

The example block diagrams, systems, and/or flow diagrams may beperformed using one or more processors, controllers, and/or otherprocessing devices, for example. For example, the examples may beimplemented using coded instructions, for example, computer readableinstructions, stored on a tangible computer readable medium. A tangiblecomputer readable medium may include various types of volatile andnon-volatile storage media, including, for example, random access memory(RAM), read-only memory (ROM), programmable read-only memory (PROM),electrically programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electricallyerasable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory, a hard disk drive,optical media, magnetic tape, a file server, any other tangible datastorage device, or any combination thereof. The tangible computerreadable medium is non-transitory.

Further, although the example block diagrams, systems, and/or flowdiagrams are described above with reference to the figures, otherimplementations may be employed. For example, the order of execution ofthe components, elements, blocks, and/or functionality may be changedand/or some of the components, elements, blocks, and/or functionalitydescribed may be changed, eliminated, sub-divided, or combined.Additionally, any or all of the components, elements, blocks, and/orfunctionality may be performed sequentially and/or in parallel by, forexample, separate processing threads, processors, devices, discretelogic, and/or circuits.

While embodiments have been disclosed, various changes may be made andequivalents may be substituted. In addition, many modifications may bemade to adapt a particular situation or material. Therefore, it isintended that the disclosed technology not be limited to the particularembodiments disclosed, but will include all embodiments falling withinthe scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method, comprising: measuring a first latencyassociated with a first exchange based on a first processing time of afirst trade order; and routing a second trade order from a tradingdevice to one of the first exchange and a second exchange based on thefirst latency.